4:25 PM,
Oct. 10, 2013

In this 2012 file photo, Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon, speaks at the introduction of the new Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

Written by

Alistair Barr
USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ted Jorgensen, a 69-year-old bike shop owner in Arizona, is the biological father of Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, but Jorgensen never knew until he was told late last year by the author of a new book about the Internet billionaire.

"I didn't know where he was, if he had a good job or not, or if he was alive or dead," Jorgensen told Brad Stone, a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter and author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. which will be published later this month.

When shown photos of Bezos, Jorgensen's eyes filled with sorrow and disbelief, ...